A team of highly-skilled grifters takes on a new member in Focus. Expert con artists ply their trade in a myriad of ways with more than a few relying heavily on misdirection and sleight of hand. In many ways, they are misguided magicians of the street. Nicky (Will Smith) is one of the best. He’s a wily-eyed wolf in a…

A down-on-his-luck high school football coach gets a second chance in McFarland, USA. Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner) found himself on the outside looking in when his high school coaching career suddenly, unceremoniously came to a grinding halt. Left with no other options, White took the only opportunity available to him — a low-paying assistant coaching position in desolate McFarland, California.…

A wide-eyed introvert is captivated by a powerful, enigmatic millionaire with a hypnotic personality in Fifty Shades of Grey. Ana Steele (Dakota Johnson) is the living embodiment of “vanilla.” She’s the type who has never once had to worry about being the subject of gossip, unlike her more outgoing journalist roommate Kate (Eloise Mumford). Ana has spent her time on…

A super-secret government spy agency races against time to halt the maniacal plans of an evil tech genius in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Hidden behind a veil of secrecy, there exists a British security service that specializes in deep, covert missions. Their goal is to protect the country and the world from countless unexpected dangers. Its ranks are filled with…

A simple, young housekeeper discovers that she’s actually intergalactic royalty in Jupiter Ascending. Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is the daughter of an unassuming immigrant couple captivated by the mystery of the universe. She also believes that…

A Nazi-era submarine rumored to be carrying untold riches is the target of a maritime salvage crew in Black Sea. Undersea salvage is a dangerous way to make a living. Captain Robinson (Jude Law) knows…

A recently-separated teacher becomes the obsession of her 19-year-old neighbor in The Boy Next Door. Life for Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) would seem nearly ideal for most people. She lives in a large, beautiful, upper-middle-class…

Box Office

Critics of President Barack Obama‘s tenure have often pointed to high unemployment figures as a firm example of his failure as a leader. While no one can argue that high unemployment numbers generally represent a negative for any president at that time in office, others have tried to compare Obama’s numbers negatively to those of President Ronald Reagan. Many of the Right’s biggest…

Fox News host Sean Hannity has been under fire of late for his over-the-top support of embattled Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who grew quickly famous thanks to people like Hannity giving him a prime-time platform to spew his anti-American rhetoric. Most recently, he and The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart have been sparring over this issue and Hannity’s handling of it.…

One of the chief arguments against Obamacare is that the various plans are all-inclusive and, as a result, include coverage for conditions many subscribers won’t ever need. It could be Viagra for women or gynecologist visits for men. The theory is that this keeps the cost of individual plans high. Unfortunately, the argument doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny. Even worse, it…

Since the dawn of science fiction, people have contemplated the eventual reality of a fully-capable interactive assistant. Some imagine them taking the form of talking robots. Others picture a disembodied voice connected to a core computer as seen most popularly in Star Trek. The path toward that goal is forever moving forward, although often at a pace that seems to…

It’s time for the next installment of dinosaurs! All of the dinosaurs that have been previously discussed belong to the order Ornithischia, which means “bird-hipped dinosaurs.” However, we are now moving into the realm of the Saurischia, the “lizard-hipped dinosaurs.” The first major clade in the Saurischia is the Sauropodomorpha. This is the group that includes sauropods (long-necked dinosaurs) and…

Rounding out the Ornithischia (“bird-hipped dinosaurs”), we have the Thyreophora (“shield bearers”), more commonly known as the armored dinosaurs. These dinosaurs are exemplified by the ankylosaurs and the stegosaurs. The ankylosaurs are the dinosaurs that were covered almost entirely in bony armor from head to tail, and many also had either bony spikes or a massive tail club. Their cousins…